Table of contents for Volume 38 No 1 - January 2024 in Backtrack

Like other lines, the former Great Central Railway network saw closures during the first waves of railway retrenchment from the 1920s to the 1950s. The North Lindsey Light Railway lost its sparse passenger service from 13th July 1925. Other early passenger service withdrawals were Doncaster to Shireoaks via the joint line through Maltby from 2nd December 1929 and between Barnsley and Wakefield Westgate from 22nd September 1930. Passenger strains ceased on the Cheshire Lines Committee Southport line beyond Aintree in January 1952 and on the St. Helens Central branch in March that year. Barnsley to Sheffield services via the GC route ended in December 1953. On the Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway section, trains from Shirebrook North (renamed from Langwith Junction in 1924) to Sheffield were withdrawn in September…

FROM THE PENDRAGON ARCHIVES…

During the past few years Edward Gibbins has related the events surrounding the closure of some railway lines, notably those on the Isle of Wight and over Stainmore Summit, where they were so obviously candidates for withdrawal of their passenger services – they either would be much better served by buses or else ran through very sparsely populated areas with little chance of attracting additional custom for any mode of transport. Nevertheless not all closures fell into these categories and a series of three, all affecting different sections of the same route, comes to mind. The first of these serves to illustrate Edward Gibbins’ contentions and is the subject of this article. With the Editor’s permission the other sections will be dealt with in separate articles. Eventually closure of the…

Proposals to join London to Brighton by rail had been floating about in various forms since 1823, though the London & Brighton Railway was not finally authorised until 1837, essentially the line surveyed by John Rennie. It was one of several routes offered for approval by various proposers vying for the privilege of joining the two places and after some lively and combative hearings in Committee, and a very unsatisfactory voting outcome, this route had been preferred. Its recommendation as the best of those on offer came in a very detailed report compiled by Captain Robert Alderson, RE, who had been appointed by the Committee as an independent and qualified assessor to inspect all the contending routes. Despite describing the one proposed by Robert Stephenson as preferable from the engineering…

The earliest locomotives of Isambard Kingdom Brunel Junior’s broad gauge Great Western Railway were described by E. L. Ahrons as “an extraordinary collection of freak locomotives” and none looked quite as freakish as those constructed by North East railway engineer Thomas Elliot Harrison. Brunel certainly kept a tight hold of their design – his instructions to the constructors of locomotives for the Great Western Railway (GWR) were for drawings of proposed engines to be sent to Brunel before construction, and during, if any amendments were to be made. They were to run at 30mph, have a piston speed of not more than 280ft per minute (relatively low and best adhered to by using large diameter driving wheels), and a maximum weight of ten and a half tons, with the locomotive…

In an attempt by British Railways to boost its flagging patronage, the up morning express from Glasgow known as ‘The Caledonian’, 08.30 SX, was from 18th June 1962 amended and decelerated to make stops at Preston and Stafford. At the same time, two connecting trains from Preston were introduced, also SX, 1F55 to Liverpool Exchange at 12.09 calling at Ormskirk only and 1J47 to Manchester Victoria a minute later, non stop via Chorley and Dobbs Brow Junction. ‘The Caledonian’ was not sufficiently revived by these measures and it became discontinued, along with the two connecting trains, after the summer 1964 timetable. Nothing filled that void until 4th January 1965 when the reissued winter working timetable showed the 09.30 Glasgow–Liverpool which had existed for several years as 1M27 brought forward exactly…

The London Midland & Scottish Railway’s 5XP three-cylinder express 4-6-0s made their debut in 1934, with a total of 191 being constructed over the next two years. With the Silver Jubilee of King George V being marked in 1935, the LMS took the opportunity to name one of the newest into service Silver Jubilee and that bestowed a name for the class in general. For naming the rest of them a patriotic theme was pursued: constituent parts of the British Empire (of which their were many), warships of the Royal Navy down the years and Admirals of the Fleet (again, plenty of both). The ‘Jubilees’ performed fine work around the LMS main lines and became a perennially popular class up to their demise in late 1967.…

The 2ft 6in gauge Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway (LMVLR) had but one tunnel but it was rather special as it was built to accommodate standard gauge wagons and vans on narrow gauge transporter cars. Moreover, it is still in use today but for a totally different purpose. This short article tells its story. The Engineer for the LMVLR was Everard Richard Calthrop (1857-1927) who replaced Joseph Forsyth (1839-1900) shortly after the latter’s death on 11th December 1900.1 Calthrop had considerable experience of light railway construction stemming from his position as Engineer to the Barsi Light Railway in India. The contractor for the 8¼-mile line, which ran from Waterhouses to Hulme End, was W. H. Hutchinson but the contract was sublet to Henry Lovatt & Company Limited of Wolverhampton.…